Trump Corruption

Mother Jones reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has admitted to the US Senate that he has reached at least one settlement agreement in which he was accused of misconduct or inappropriate behavior. During Kennedy’s second confirmation hearing Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) raised the issue of personal misconduct. She referred to the allegation that Kennedy had once groped a babysitter. Kennedy …

Politico reports: Around the globe, when rulers consolidate power through a cult of personality, they do not tend to surrender it willingly, even in the face of constitutional limits. And Trump, of course, already has a track record of trying to remain in office beyond his lawful tenure.  If Trump decided he wanted to hold onto power past 2028, there …

Mediaite reports: A whopping 13,000 federal employees reportedly received an abusive email on Thursday after a new broadcast system was quickly exploited. In an email with the subject header, “Resign,” all 13,000 federal employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reportedly received the abusive message, which read, “Aren’t you tired of working for a complete cunt?” “I’m sorry this …

ABC News reports: Workers for the U.S. government received another email Thursday night urging them to resign within one week, by Feb. 6. The memo was similar to the email government employees received on Tuesday. The email, obtained by ABC News, provided information in a Q&A format. It came from an email address reportedly associated with Elon Musk. As with …

“Trump has made clear he has less than zero evidence that the FAA’s hiring of people with disabilities contributed to yesterday’s crash, so this whole conversation is a non-sequitur. But since he has started the conversation, some facts. “The same FAA website language Trump blasted today, about hiring people with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities and other significant ‘targeted’ disabilities, was …

The New York Times reports: When Donald J. Trump sued CBS for $10 billion days before the 2024 election, accusing the company of deceptively editing a “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, many legal experts dismissed the litigation as a far-fetched attempt to punish an out-of-favor news outlet. Now Mr. Trump is back in the White House, and …

Axios reports: President Trump ordered a review of all federal aviation hiring and safety decisions in response to Wednesday night’s deadly air collision near Washington. The order shows Trump is doubling down on his claim, without evidence, that DEI policies were a factor in the crash. His memo explicitly mentions “diversity equity and inclusion,” and reflects how anti-DEI efforts are …

REPORTER: Have you spoken to any of the families of the victims of the plane crash? TRUMP: I don’t want to comment on that. REPORTER: Do you have a plan to go visit the site? TRUMP: What’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming? REPORTER: Or to meet with the responders down there? TRUMP: I don’t have …

First, there’s this little reminder: The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Michael Whitaker, resigned from his position on January 20 after repeated demands from Elon Musk that he quit, leaving the agency without a Senate-confirmed leader during a major crisis in the wake of the D.C. plane crash. Musk called for Whitaker’s resignation in September after the FAA chief …

CBS News reports: A senator at Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing to be F.B.I. director pressed him to articulate a simple truth: Joseph R. Biden won the 2020 election. Under three minutes of questioning from Senator Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, Mr. Patel conceded only that Mr. Biden was “certified” as the president. “Can you say the words ‘Joe Biden won …

The New York Times reports: Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, informed NPR and PBS this week that he had ordered an investigation into the practice of their member stations airing sponsorships. Mr. Carr told Katherine Maher, NPR’s chief executive, and Paula Kerger, PBS’s chief executive, about the investigation in a letter on Wednesday. Mr. Carr, who …

“Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key …

NPR reports: On his first day in office, President Donald Trump granted clemency to every person charged or convicted for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, even those convicted of violently assaulting police officers. But Trump’s pardons and commutations for people he has called “patriots” did not wipe away certain defendants’ extensive criminal records …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted former President Joe Biden and Democratic diversity measures after a midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter above Washington, D.C., the night before. Trump, speaking at the White House, claimed that DEI “could have been” to blame for the collision, the deadliest U.S. plane …

The Latin Times reports: A Puerto Rican family, including a toddler, was taken into custody by ICE in Milwaukee after being overheard speaking Spanish; this incident is the latest in a surge of racial profiling concerns amid Trump’s immigration crackdown. The family, all U.S. citizens, were transported to a detention center before officials acknowledged their mistake and issued an apology. …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump’s military deportation flight to Guatemala on Monday likely cost at least $4,675 per migrant, according to data provided by U.S. and Guatemalan officials. That is more than five times the $853 cost of a one-way first class ticket on American Airlines from El Paso, Texas, the departure point for the flight, according to a …

“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to …

The New York Times reports: Senior Justice Department officials under President Trump have held discussions with federal prosecutors in Manhattan about the possibility of dropping their corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. The officials have also spoken to Mr. Adams’s defense team since Mr. Trump took office, the …

“Medicare and Medicaid have not been affected by any action we’re taking in any way, shape or form. We are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse. And that process we identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas — 50 million. And …

CNN reports: Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group announced Wednesday it plans to expand into financial services and potentially buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Shares of Trump Media (DJT) climbed 8% on the news. Trump Media said it plans to launch a fintech brand called Truth.Fi and to introduce investment vehicles that will focus on American growth, manufacturing, …